The Hockey PDOcast - Deep Diving the Devils Start to the Season

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Bryce Salvador to deep dive the first 13 games the Devils have played. They discuss the highs of the 8-game winning streak followed by the lows of their recent 4-game road trip, the impact of the injuries they've sustained along the way, getting the most out of how much Jack Hughes is creating on the top line, Arseny Gritsyuk's usage, Dawson Mercer's bounceback season, and the teams that have been most impressive from ice level viewings so far this season. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name's Dmitra Filippovich and joining me today's my good buddy, Bryce Salador. Bryce, what's going on, man? Not too much, Dimitri. I'm looking forward to this. It's a long time coming. Yes, we've been meaning to do this for a while, a couple years now. So I'm glad we're finally getting around to it. Got a nice little break in the schedule for the Devils as well coming off that road trip. They got a couple days off before they resume with a three-game homestead. and so I thought it would be a good opportunity for the two of us to link up. And deep dive the first 13 games we've seen from the Devils,

stuff we've noticed watching these games. Obviously, you've got a very unique vantage point from ice level. So I'm curious to pick your brain about what you've seen and how that matches up with what I'm seeing from watching at home. They're coming off, it might not be the best timing for us, right? I think if we had recorded coming off that 8-game win streak, maybe it would have been a more upbeat situation. coming off this ugly four-game road trip in which they lose three or four,

the one win is a game against the Kings where they get out shot 44 to 22. I will say, though, I know it's kind of like the most recent image or memory that we've seen from this. So I think that's going to cloud your perspective. But I think taking a bigger picture of you of these 13 games, which is what we're doing here today, I can't sound particularly concerned about that road trip. I think there's a lot of circumstances in terms of key absences, is having to do certain things on the road for Sheldon Keefe that it's going to make it

more difficult, I think, to hide some of those potential situations. And so I think the season long numbers are much more representative of where this team is at right now. But what went wrong on that road trip in your opinion in terms of some of the defensive stuff, the goals against, the shot totals against where the play slipped a little bit at 5-1-5. Well, first off, I actually think this was a perfect time to meet you to kind of, you know, have this because had we done this before this road trip, we'd all have this asterix and be saying, oh, wow, is this Fugazi, right? The devil's got to go on the road trip, the West Coast.

You know what happened last season? It didn't go very well. So I think, like I said, I think this was great timing. And I just want to preface to your point, like, if we would have come into this season and said, hey, after this West Coast road trip, they would have played 13 games and we're 9, 4 and 0, I think every single Devils fan would sign up. for that. But as you know, we all become passionate as soon as we were in an eight-game heater, everyone wants to make it 13, 14, 15, and no one really wants to kind of look at maybe

if there's going to be some warts there or not. But when we look at this West Coast trip, it just couldn't have come at a worse time, quite frankly, just with you go into Colorado, and then the news that you have is you're going to be without Brett Pesci, right, for an extended months. So right off the bat, you're scrambling. We know how valuable of a defender, Brett Pesci is. He eats up literally pucks and minutes is kind of what I've been saying. And on the penalty kill, they're on the right flank. It was a perfect storm. Colorado was ranked 30th, I think, on the power plate going into that game. So you just kind of felt Demetri that, oh, my gosh, you're without Brett Pesci. You're going to have to move around your PKK unit. Like, who's going to be

on that right flank there to try to block some of the shots? And sure enough, Colorado scores forward power play goals. And then on top of that, when you look at that game, Jacob Markstrom was coming in. The first time he hadn't been between the pipes in 15 days. So I know there's a lot of people wondering about that decision. But when you have a number one goaltender as competitive as Jacob Markstrom, and he's saying, hey, I'm ready to go.

You got to put him in. And for whatever reason, it just couldn't have gone any worse, 18 seconds into that game. he goes out to make a play and he shoots it over the glass for a delay and next thing you know it on that ensuing power play you know Colorado's scored and then you're chasing that game

so it's just that's how the road trip started and Colorado found their game and so the devils were just chasing and chasing and chasing and then he moved into the Sharks game you know first shot that Jake Allen has to face as a breakaway and Eklund scores a first

shot of that game and then you go to LA which was a response game like what were we going to see from the devils and what I liked about that game is yes you talked about it they got out shot and you could say they had to defend pretty much that whole game but they found a way

to win right you had got some some gutsy efforts from the captain which was important for him to come out and lead that game and and they weren't able to back it up against Anaheim which is a great story from if you're an Anaheim fan right everyone was hoping they were going to take a little

bit of a surge here so too i think they're first what loving games you've seen anaheim and they caught the devils on a back half of a back to back there and and i wasn't making excuses after that anaheim game but again first shot that jake allen has to face in that one it's a breakaway um so you know if you're going to be you know having those type of starts the game's going to be very difficult to win in the National Hockey League. And I even asked Sheld and Keefe after that game. And again, not to make an excuse for the Devils, but that was their eighth game in 13 days.

They had two back-to-backs on that stretch. They emotionally had that eight-game winning streak. Then Marquis concedes eight goals in Colorado, the most he's ever conceded in his career. Then he's got injuries. Then Connor Brown's missing games too also. So it just, it was a little bit of a perfect storm, those four games.

and now you talked about it. They have three days off here before they play Montreal. So they have an opportunity to reset. But again, I think there was a lot that was learned on that road trip. And I think one of the more important things was this young team that's maturing and trying to understand how to win in the National Hockey League in that Anaheim game, it was pretty much over, you know, once it was 3-0, but the captain gets run over from behind.

and Dawson Mercer instinctually gets right in there, you know, gets a penalty. But when he came out of the penalty box, he was the one that, you know, was able to set up a beautiful goal to Jack Hughes. And so it was a little bit of a catalyst, the catalyst that showed the devils that, hey, there's still some extra in the tank. And Sheldon mentioned that as well in the third period. And they just ran out of time. Like they had a spark in the third period from that. No, devil's fans say, where was that in the first period? But as you know, you're deep in analytics.

When you look at that game load that the Devils had and you're playing Anaheim that only, that was their third game in eight days, you know, you could say it was a scheduled loss potentially. But the Devils, I think, learned a lot in that Anaheim game. Yeah, there's, as you know, there's no excuses in this league in terms of injuries. There's always a next man up mentality. Pretty much no one around the league has a full lineup that they expected to have on opening night, right? as soon as the games start, guys start getting banged up, start missing.

I do think in this case, though, for the devils, the volume of the injuries, right? And I want to talk a lot more about the Peschi one in particular because I think that's the highest leverage of the bunch, but not having for these past couple games, Connor Brown, Cody Glass, Evgenia Donov since game one, all of a sudden kind of thrust guys into roles. They're maybe either ideally not suited for or just not prepared for necessarily. And when you get on the road, I think it becomes much tougher for that third defense pair, the fourth line kind of guys who I think would benefit from the energy of the home crowd typically to get insulated in a way where you can protect them a little bit more at home all of a sudden

on the road the matchups get away from you a little bit other teams start picking away at it and that's what you see in some of these games so I imagine you know three days off getting a bit healthier hopefully getting some guys back and then playing three straight at home it's going to look different but I want to talk about the peshy absence for you because I think there's a direct correlation here he obviously gets hurt early in their last win before this road trip misses these four games and the trickle down effect of removing a guy like that from the lineup not only in terms of his own contribution some of the PK stuff you mentioned some of the stuff he does in zone to protect the house and make life easier for his goalie but also then the trickle down of what it does

on the rest of the deep pairs as Sheldon Keefe has to kind of reshuffle the combinations to make it work right all of a sudden now you split up the Pesci, Luke Hughes pair, which had been so good together. You bump up Brendan Dillon to play with Luke Hughes. All of a sudden now you split up the Dylan Nemitz pair, which had been playing really well. And so all of a sudden now you're playing Chalowsky and Emmett's. You're playing Hughes and Dylan. You're getting into all sorts of tricky spots. And I think that's what we're seeing here.

There's kind of an accumulation effect where it's, yes, losing Pesci is huge, but then not having the other pairs you had previous. I think also plays a role in this. Well, you're exactly right. When you went into that Colorado game, Shel and Keith switched up all three pairs, right? So you've been riding a nice little heater here, and I know firsthand, all of a sudden,

you get thrown into Colorado, and you've got to have a new partner, just mentally right off the bat, you have a little bit of doubt. Now, everyone's going to say, hey, you're a professional athlete. You've got to be prepared for this in defense. You always get your deep air and, you know, rolling.

in a game you may play with multiple guys, but when you know going into a game, right, that things are going to be different, you just prepare different. I don't care what anyone says. And to your point, like I was looking at the Luke Hughes, Brett Pesci pairing, you know,

coming in, you know, before he got hurt, of the 59 D pairings with at least 100 minutes, like these guys shot attempts share per 60 was the sixth highest shot share, second, you know, scoring chance share, nine, goal four, share like 11 like these guys were awesome they were um you know really controlling the game and so

when you lose bret pesci it immediately affects lukees um and and then everyone's got to we you know not to be redundant on it but and then everyone's got to understand okay well how are we killing and then psychologically you're you're starting to doubt that um and then you had to bring in shamus casey you know to see you know what he could do you got a couple of games and that's a tough ask They put them with Brennan Dillon in Colorado. I don't care who you are. That's a, when you haven't played all season, and then you've got to deal with the altitude.

So they run off the bat, you know, everyone's kind of questioning, okay, well, what are we going to do next? And they switch the pairings up for the next game. And then, you know, they try to go back to two solid pairings that were playing together. But it just was not the same. So you just can't replace a Brett Pesci. And I think, you know, kind of, you know, what your podcast is all about is the analytics.

And one of the best things I like about analytics is that you can start to quantify how valuable someone is defensively, whether it's stick checks, whether it's, you know, defending the rush, whether it's exits. So blocking shots and where they are on the ice. And so Pesci is outstanding. And, you know, Jacob Slaving is another guy that's, you know, up there in all those metrics. And it's no surprise those guys spent a lot of time together. So, yeah, it was a tough blow for the devil. Hopefully it's not going to be much longer. I think they said a timeline was a month,

but it's crazy how quickly one person out of the lineup, especially a defenseman, can really change things up. And yes, you can say it's the next man up mentality, but there's just some players you just can't replace. Yeah, you mentioned the D pair splitting up, and a pair they'd been using previously before the Pesci injury was Brennan Dillon and Shimon Nemitz, right? And you get 160 minutes of them together.

55% shot share, 53% chance, 53% expected goals, that's going to get it done for you, especially as a second pair, and then or even a potentially third one based on the way they were slotted. And first off, I wanted to give a shout out to my guy, Brennan, Dylan, with how he's bounced back physically, how he looks healthy now, the work he put in this offseason. He came in to the studio here back in July, and we did a show together, and he was kind of detailing some of the stuff he'd been doing, obviously, after that gruesome injury he had in the postseason and he was talking about how you know you always kind of like don't know what to do with the information when a player tells you they're in the best shape of their life because I think

everyone is almost contractually obligated to say that at every every off season but uh he really seemed to believe it and it certainly has showed and paid dividends he scored those uh goals in back to back games earlier this year and i texted him about it yeah and he responded shoot or shoot so you know he gets the uh he gets the assignment and it was great to see that from him But what winds up happening is you split up those pairs, in particular the last one. And I know Nemitz got a lot of flack for his performance in the game against Anaheim. I think the turnover to Crider, which didn't wind up resulting in a goal against, that was a tough one because that's one of those decisions where you got to be careful with it, going cross ice like that around your own blue line. The one that led to the Seneca opening goal, I didn't have as much of an issue with.

I thought that was actually the right read from him. I think you want to see your defenseman in that spot when you're playing with your top six out there you've got the other team hemmed in you're kind of trying to stretch the offensive zone go cross ice for that diagonal look at the goalie moving unfortunately the timing and execution didn't work out they pick it off and then go back the other way

and score there's certainly some concerning moments I think there's been flashes this year as well and I think Nimitz is at a really fascinating crossroads of his career here right where he's still so young I think he just played his 100th regular season game at the NHL level in Anaheim to give you some perspective on how early on he is. He's turning 22 in February, yet he's entering the final year of his ELC now. I think he's got a runway here until, you know, Peschi's going to come back in a month.

Kovacevich will hopefully be back in the new year as well. And at that point, I think the devils are going to have a decision to make in terms of who their best six defensemen are. And there's always going to be those trade rumors because he's probably their most desirable asset to potentially land a top line winger to play with Braden Hughes. And so with all those kind of circumstances or questions hanging, this is a massive whatever 15, 20 to game stretch for him. And I'm very curious to see how he bounces back and performs.

I thought he did a phenomenal job of bouncing back against adversity last year against Carolina in the playoffs, where he gets thrown into that series unexpectedly, struggles early on, then scores that overtime winner plays much better as that series progresses. and he's going to have to do so again here, I think. Well, yes, that's a great summary. And for whatever reason, since, you know, the change up with the D pairings,

like all of his stats, when shot attempts, shot, chances expect a goal, they're all like 35%. So as a matter who he's with right now, just he's getting caved in. And you feel bad for him because his rookie season was outstanding. You saw why he was a top, you know, second overall pick for the devils. and you just knew that he was going to be a guy that could make an impact in the game. Now, unfortunately, he got hurt last summer playing for his country.

And then when he came to training camp, this is last season, it was almost kind of like he didn't realize, hey, I got to earn my job again, right? Like, it's every time to come to the training camp. And I'm not going to say he took anything for granted. It was just, I think, a little bit of a rude awakening for him. Like, holy cow, like, I got to compete here. Who's this Kovacevich kid, right? You know, Kovacev came in and absolutely earned his roster spot.

And so you find, you know, this would be Nemitz down in the minors last season, thinking that he was going to be a mainstain defenseman for the Devils. I think that would be tough for your confidence. But I give him a lot of credit when he got called up. And then he was very good in the playoffs against Carolina. It was encouraging to see that. where you're like, okay, hey, you know, this guy's resilient. You see why he is a top defender because he has that mental ability to adjust.

And then this season, he comes in. And I think when you're a young defenseman, Demetri, the toughest position you can be in is on that third pairing without an identity. You know, what I mean by that, he can start on the penalty kill. He wasn't on the power play. And you're getting your, we'll say, 14, 15 minutes. how do you really make an impact if you can't get some of those type of wins, whether it's points on the power play or blocking and killing and feeling here apart? So I would assume that that would be tough for him where every level he's been in,

he's been somebody that's been relied on. And now I think he's kind of just really trying to figure it out because there's a lot of pressure on him to your point where he can see that, you know, Pesci's going to come back. and he hasn't been playing his best hockey as being Nemitz. Kovacevich is still out for a while. So he's going to have a runway to really prove. And maybe he, you know, unfortunately, maybe he's thinking,

am I going to be traded and maybe some of that's weighing in as well. But hopefully he can solidify his play because the devil's desperately need him. He's big, he's strong. And when he's playing to his identity, he does a great job ending plays. I did a stat maybe. about maybe six, I don't know how many games ago where, you know, he was up there in terms of stick checks, you know, per 20 for defensemen. I think he was like top 10 or whatever it was. So he was moving well. He was defending well. But as you know, as soon as you start to doubt your

game and you get on the road and you can't, as you were saying, can't be hidden at times. You know, the coach staff can't protect you. Then it can really spiral. And I think that's what we saw from him on this last road trip but he's got three days here to to regroup and these are important games for the devils and just kind of you know summing up just the whole devil's back end you know guy we just haven't really focused on is kovosevich like that injury for this team we're now seeing it start to come to fruition in terms of not really maybe having a true shutdown pairing last season see govathal and kovic was by far the best suppressing D pair in the national hockey league in terms of high danger

chances, goals against. I believe there are one in those categories or top three or whatever. But to lose those two really change the dynamic of the back end because I would even say that Sigmundthal hasn't been the same without Kovicevich. And you look at some of his defensive numbers and he's at times still trying to, I think, find that rhythm that he had with Kovasevich. If there's a silver lining maybe in a month or actually I think there's going to be both three, four months. Kova Savage comes back. Hopefully they can find that chemistry with Seagintaller again.

Yeah, you're absolutely correct. That pair was so good defensively last year in Seagenthaler, especially playing with Dougie, hasn't looked quite as crisp in terms of the suppression stuff. And, you know, just to expand on your point from what happened last off season, not only the injury for Emmett's, but obviously a new coach coming in in Shelton, Keefe and Abenham, him to kind of earn your keep with that. And then Kovacevich not only earns a roster spot in playing time, but earns a five-year extension that kicks in this year as well. And so all of a sudden now you're looking around all these contracts guys who are ahead of you in the depth chart. And I imagine for a young player,

especially someone who I think is going to need to push the boundaries offensively in terms of his skill level. And that's why I mentioned that play he makes on the turnover to Seneca that leads to the goal against. Like, you have to keep trying to make that read. If you're Shimon Nemitz, right? You can't all of a sudden be incredibly conservative and just either float one on net or dump it down deep in the zone and avoid a turnover that's going to cost you.

I think you need to try to make a play offensively there. I get it to I think it was Meyer. And if it goes through all of a sudden, you set them up with a great scoring chance and that's what made you the second overall pick. But once you start making some of those turnovers, your ice time gets getting taken away from you. You're looking over your shoulder with all the other options on the blue line. I think it becomes tougher to have that confidence

to step into that play and make it next time it's presented to you. Well, you're exactly right. And sometimes you get into a situation with an organization where their window is, maybe doesn't necessarily fit in with your development window. And to your point, you know, this is a kid that needs to be able to make those mistakes. He needs to understand some of those pressure moments and not feel that every time he does something wrong, you know, he's going to hear about it. So it just might be an unfortunate situation for him where the devils,

they are, you know, maybe one or two pieces away from legitimately making, you know, consecutive runs here of going deep in the playoffs. And Sheldon Keefe is, you know, is pushing this team hard. He's really trying to look for ways to find any 1% improvement in so many different categories where it can be tough if you're a young, player trying to learn, you know, throughout this season, which the devil just can't afford that. Let me give you a, I want to move on the offensive side of things.

I think that's enough on the defenseman, obviously. I have to stay on. I'm a defenseman. Of course. But I want to talk about Jack Hughes and what we're seeing from him because, you know, coming back from the shoulder surgery, obviously, that prematurely ended his season last year and this being a recurring thing, I think you'd naturally want to see what it's going to look like in terms of the aggressiveness shooting the puck, getting to the interior, some of the stuff

that made him such a special offensive player the past couple years. And he's passed all those tests in my opinion, right? Ten goals and 13 games, which is tied for the league lead with McKinnon and Caulfield. I'm going to give you a couple of stats here that just reflect where his standing is in the league offensively. Fourth in slot shots, only McKinnon, Marchenko, and Jason Robertson, more third in rush chances first and four check chances fourth in slot passes only macdavid celebrini and kuturov have more top 10 in offensive zone possession time with a puck on a stick fifth and controlled entries eighth and controlled exits fourth in end-to-end rushes all top five to ten essentially and so i think that's been huge now i do have a thing that i want to get into that i'm

not quite as excited about in terms of that line but what we're seeing from him right now and the way he's jump back in here and what he's been able to create offensively, I think, is a massive, you know, not revelation because this is what he's been in the past, but I think just seeing and how coming back from that injury is, I think, very encouraging. Yeah, did you say end-end rushes? I think I actually did a graphic maybe last week, and he was, I think, top five and in-end rushes. Yeah, four, yeah. You know, he's called, yeah, he's just, when he's playing to his identity, he's just, he's a pleasure to watch. he's a special player. He can just control so much of the game and the offense. The way that he's able to process his reads at such a high rate as he goes up and down

the ice, it's quite frankly second to none. And he's just been somebody that's been able to find a tremendous groove with Jesper Bratt, right? Their ability to think at the same levels, which makes them such a deadly duo. and I know we'll probably get into maybe what you were going to talk about this line here in a bit where you were leading but Jack's been tremendous and it's nice to see him come back and have this success right off the bat. This is his fastest start in terms of goal production.

This is a guy that understood that, you know, when he had 40 goals, 40 plus goals a couple seasons ago, that he needs to have that element. So when he's coming down the ice, the goaltenders have to understand that he's going to shoot and he's going to be that threat. If not, they're going to start cheating to Bratter. And so he keeps goalies honest. He finds that short side off the goalie mask goal at an extremely high rate. Like I said, that's so fun to watch.

But, you know, and I think for Jack, he wanted to show everybody that he was back. And it's been two tough seasons for him not to be able to finish because of, you know, shoulder injuries. and the last shoulder injury was just a freak situation in Vegas when Eichael accidentally tripped him up and he went hard into the board so it's not like he's timid and he's not playing the right way

and he's not going to the hard areas. Sometimes you have an unfortunate situation like his last injury so when the devils absolutely need him to be their best player every night he has to be driving play because if they don't as I'm sure you probably see some of the five-on-five numbers,

you know, if he's not a facilitator or distributor, it drives up pretty quick. It does. So here's my issue with it. He's played 205-5-on-five minutes this season. He's got seven goals in that time, which I think is tied for the league lead. The issue is that the devils have scored 10 total goals in those minutes,

which means that, and he's got two assists. So they've scored three goals, essentially, that he did not score directly, with him on the ice. And I don't think it's for a lack of effort on his part as a distributor. As I mentioned, he's fourth in the league and passes into the slot. And he's setting guys up as much as you'd expect from a playmaker's gifted as he is. There's been so many times, I think, of the game in Toronto, for example, where him and Brad have

these extended offensive zone sequences. They're cycling the puck. They're interchanging. They're really kind of stretching the defense and causing miscommunication. And then it works its way down on the goal line, sends it right out. into the slot and it winds up being just shot into the pads or missing the net on it. And that's happened too frequently. And so, you know, I think they entered the year hoping that a guy like Kipgeny to Donov

would be able to fill that role from a skill perspective. He goes down after playing just nine and a half minutes. They've been trying Palat there as they have in the past. We've seen a bit of Paul Carter. We've seen Stefan Nason recently. And I just feel like they're getting opportunities, but I think they're doing not only Hughes, but the team's offense as a whole, a bit of a disservice, not figuring out a more efficient option there.

And I'm surprised that we've only seen about a minute and a half so far of our Saini Gritsuk in that spot. We've seen him play more with his cheer and minor on the second line instead, but I feel like unlocking the offensive 5-1-5 with Brad and Hughes out there should be priority number one right now because they create so much. They have the puck on their stick so often. They're getting into the interior, but they're just not converting enough with those shots into goals right now. And this is an issue that stretches back to last year as well prior to

Hughes's injury. It's kind of been a recurring theme for this team, despite how talented that line is. Yes, look, that's the elephant in the room, right? Everyone knows that, you know, general manager, Tom Fitzgerald, needs to find those two a left winger that can go in and be a force, be able to not only just like play heavy hockey, they have to be able to think the game at the same level as Jack and Jess Purdue. And that, that's, the biggest challenge, Demetrius. It's very hard to find players in the National Hockey League that can really complement a top line when you have two guys that are so gifted in their ability to see plays that are three, four, you know, strides ahead of what everyone else is thinking.

And Jack and Brad to do such a great job of really controlling the play by leading, you know, each other, by putting pucks that force, you know, each other to go to an area. And when you don't have a winger that understands that, hey, this is where the puck may go next and you're that split second, it becomes a dead puck. And that's unfortunate. And so look, it's, you know, you don't want to, you know, put anything, you don't want to say anything negative about, you know, the wingers that the dels have had. They're, you know, they just, they don't have a history of scoring 30, 40 goals, right? So you just don't go to the national hockey league and say, hey, you know what, I'm going to, you know, become a 30, 40 goal score.

although Sidney Crosby would immediately come on and say, well, I've done that for a few players sell. So, you know, so I understand that, you know, it can happen. But, you know, joking aside, that is the biggest thing. And it's unfortunate that Donov was only able to play nine minutes like you talked about because we would have welcomed an opportunity to see what he could have done through the first 13 games. And I'm assuming and I'm sure that Jack and Brad is,

even though they're tremendous pros and it has to be becoming frustrating because if the Devils can't generate more five-on-five offense from everything that Jack and Bradder are producing, you're potentially going to be out in the first round again.

It's very difficult to beat teams in the playoffs. If they're going to shut down your power play like Carolina did, it didn't matter how great the devil's power play was when they got to the playoffs. Now granted, I understand all the injuries. You don't have Jack, but just, You know, when you just think about it from a, you know, philosophically from what wins in the playoffs, like you've got to have that five-on-five ability to score consistently.

And if the devils don't find that winger, it's going to be tough for them to sustain a real push in the playoffs. During the regular season, you know, special teams will carry the devils. We all know that. They're going to make the playoffs. You're not trying to, you know, create any kind of concern for the devil's fan. that are going to be listening to this. It's just that, you know, to win in the playoffs, you need to be well-rounded.

And right now they're missing a big piece on that top line. Yeah, especially with the way this roster is constructed up front and what you're getting from the second line right now, I feel like having a line like that that can just go nuclear offensively and tip the scales for you in any given game or a playoff series is what you need from them. And there's just a few too many wasted opportunities. You know, it's, I last year,

watching a devil's game. I got so frustrated with at one point. And then I tweeted out this meme of like the beautifully drawn like first half of the horse. And then the rest of it is kind of just scribbled together hastily. And it was like, this is Hughes and Brat putting together a beautiful passing sequence. And then the shot that follows. And every other devil's game now, it gets retweeted by 1015 and Devils fans because I think it's just, they're bringing it back. And so this is how long that's been going on for in something I think they clearly got to address. I mentioned his share in the second line. And we've seen them. use Mercer there. We've seen them use Gritsick there. I think both have created promising results.

His year has been such a monster. And I know he's only got the three goals in 13 games so far after exploding for 35 and 75 last year. But to those spore logic stats, I read for Jack Hughes, he's first in the league and inner slot shots. So he's getting his looks. He's first in the NHL in puck battle wins, four point six of them per game. And the stat that I love the most is, you know, this is a fourth-ranked power play right now. And part of it is the personnel in the firepower they have part of it though and you know Vegas another top five power play has this going for them as well where each of those two minute power play starts with an offensive zone draw and Tomosh hurdle wins a disproportionate amount of them back and all of a sudden they get set up with

possession they don't have to spend 20 minutes chasing the puck reentering and it leads to good results. Nicola history has won 70% of his draws on the power play right now I think Dylan larkin is the only player at that volume that's been more efficient than him and that's such a weapon for the devil's power play as well. So I just wanted to shout all that out because he's only got the three goals, not necessarily blowing your way in terms of the counting stats, but man, a lot of the underlying stuff beneath the hood shows his impact and how good he's been yet again this season. Yeah, he's, you know, he's a warrior in terms of his ability to control the game in the

gritty areas, right? We talked about Jack how they control and Braddock control the offensive part of the game, but when the puck's along the wall or you need a defensive play or you need a big face off, this is the guy, right? I'm thinking he's probably going to win a Selke here in the next, either maybe even this year or next couple of years because he's just the body of work has been consistent year after year. It was nice for him to get the 35 goals last year

to add that element of, you know, offense that was needed, especially when Jack went down. But what he does in terms of being that leader, it goes unspoken, quite frankly, a lot of times. Whenever they need a gutsy effort in Tampa Bay, the second game this season, like he led to charge in the first period. When they needed a big win,

after, you know, the tough loss in Colorado, you know, his ability to come out, sorry, also in San Jose. L.A., yeah, in L.A., he comes out, gets the first goal in L.A. to really, you know, lead the team. So I'm not too concerned about him not scoring goals. He's got five points in his last six games when I was doing my homework,

getting ready for the next game coming up here. So he's contributing. It's almost, you know, he gets used too much, I think, at times. And I think it's got to be a little bit frustrating. Like last game in Anaheim, you know, he took a hit, a tough hit from behind that a, you know, a lot of us didn't like to see. But sometimes you just, it could be a little bit of fatigue, not being able to see that come.

and, you know, Harkins from Anaheim hits him from behind, but you just, you know, it was great to see that he was able to get back up. But, you know, him and Timel have been a, been the dual, consistent duel. Over the last little stretch of hockey here, they complement each other very well. And you also got to remember, like he's putting up points while he's shutting down other teams top lines. There's not a matchup that he can't play against. And quite frankly, you know, outproduce those matchups consistently night and. night out. So again, you know, from a, from a perspective of a true two-way forward, he's, he's the epitome of that right now in the National Hockey League. Yeah, to your point on the,

on the fatigue, and I think the end of a, not only the workload, but the end of a long road trip on that Seneca goal that I mentioned in the Ducks game that opened the scoring, there's the offense's own turnover, but then very uncharacteristically, I thought his share kind of goes for broke in the neutral zone, trying to intercept the puck and takes himself out of position, all of a sudden, is on the wrong side of it and it leads to that breakaway at the other end. And that's a play you almost never see on me because he's so positionally sound and he'll kind of play the odds. And I think just be in the right place to at least kind of nudge the guy into direction until

his defenders can recover and help him out as opposed to leaving them on an island the way he did there. But I think that's just going to happen over the course of an 82 game season, right? Especially when you've played as many games in a row as the devils have, as you mentioned. Were you surprised on this road trip that we saw Shelton? and Keefe bump Gritsuk down for the most part in terms of playing him on a third line, essentially with either Lameco and Brown or after Brown left Palat, because during that eight game winning streak, especially at home,

the most recent game against Colorado there, which was a really fun back and forth affair, we saw him really load up that line with Gritsick playing with Meyer and his year. They gave them the full McKinnon assignment. They won those minutes. Gritsick scored the beautiful goal. after a great effort, out battling, lecaning on that play,

and then all of a sudden, they mix it up a little bit. I wonder if part of it was just trying to get a bit more depth, I guess, or spreading the talent out on the road where you can control the matchups a little bit less. But honestly, at this point, this isn't your typical rookie either.

I know it's an entirely different animal coming over to the NHL, playing against the best players in the world, playing the type of schedule that the NHL dictates compared to the KHL one, but given his age, given his pro experience, given how ready he looks physically from a maturity perspective, I feel like they have to load him up in terms of the reps right now playing with that top six,

whether it's with his year or whether it's with Hughes, because his competitiveness, his skill level, some of the forechecking he's putting on display as well, not necessarily just being a pure playmaker. He's doing it all right now. And I thought he was by far their best player in that losing effort against Anaheim. and so I'm very curious to see what happens to his usage coming back home and whether they load him back up in that top six. Yeah, he's been a pleasant surprise, to be quite frank, Dimitri. You never know what you're going to get from a player comes over from the KHL.

And right from training camp, what was great to see was his ability to learn and learn fast. I remember the first game that we telecast in the preseason, he got out of position in the defensive zone and got scored on. left the middle wide open and i haven't seen that since all right he just and shelvin talks about his ability to quickly adapt to whatever role that he's playing he'll be on the fourth line he'll be on the third line he'll put him up on the second line i know the fan base and you brought it up like why hasn't he been with jack and brat um they did try him in the preseason and sheldon said he just didn't not like the way that looked

But now it's been enough games. Maybe they will give him some more time with those two guys in this next stretch here of three home games, which are going to be big games here. But his ability to play along the wall is what's impressed me the most. Mityriela. I just, at first, you know, there was people wanting this going to be another Nikita Gusa that the Devils had brought over where he had, you know, a strong start and just really fizzled off. And I flat out just called out. No way.

Like I've seen him in the locker room. I've seen him without a shirt on this. He is muscular. He's big. He's 200 pounds. That's the biggest difference. He's able to play NHL hockey because he can take the physical part of the game and actually understand how to roll off the checks. He's not afraid to go to the inside.

He goes hard. So it's great to see him quickly adjust and understand how to be successful in the National Hockey League. And so maybe he might be the answer on that top wing for the devils. But I think, and I never asked Sheldon this, but I would have, you know, I don't want to put words in Sheldon's mouth. But I think Sheldon purposely has brought him along slowly, like making him understand how to defend first, how to play the right way. Because if you're going to throw him on the line with Jack and Bradder, like someone's got to be defensively responsible.

Like Jack and Brad have to have the confidence that if they're going to hold on to the puck and do, you know, the 360 in the zone. And, like, they got a responsible winger. And so it's only, you know, 13 games into this season. You know, maybe he will get, you know, some great looks there with those top guys. But, you know, but he's one of the few guys to meet you, if you put him on the third line or fourth line, like, he'll find a way to create high danger chances. So if you can get some mismatch opportunities, especially at home, by putting him on the third or fourth line and cave in.

in another team's third or fourth line. It's invaluable. So, but yeah, he's been, like I said, a fresh breath, a breath of fresh air for the Devils and hopefully he's able to continue to produce in all areas of the game like he has. Yeah, I just think that ultimately with some of the looks he creates, I want the guys in the receiving end to be either Timelmeier or Jack Hughes, essentially. I mean, that game in Anaheim where he was probably directly responsible for four or five of the best scoring chances in that one. He had the play in transition where he crosses over to the defender, gets it over a Lamaco for a rush opportunity,

the steel behind the net with the backhand pass out to his year, cross-ice feed when the power play expires to Meyer. I mean, he was just dealing out there and I thought it was a very impressive effort. And so coming back home, I want to see that scaled up to where it was previously because I feel like the sky is the limit for him right now. You got any other notes here? I haven't really mentioned my guy, Dawson Mercer, who's been playing like a dog once again this year, which is really nice to see the bounce back. I mean, he's up to Sheldon Keefe is, I think, reflective of how well he's played and how hard he's been competing. He's third on this team in usage amongst forwards.

He's playing 18 minutes a night. He's got the eight goals and 14 points. Really, should I had the hat trick in San Jose, which would have been pretty much the only silver lining from that game. I've got the stat that he's played 30 shorthanded minutes this season. Goals are 3-3 in that time. the devil's bK is breaking even despite having one fewer player out there but when one of your four players is dawson mercer he's essentially competing as hard as two guys typically do so i think that checks out um i love seeing the playmaking from him you know i mentioned earlier with nemitz obviously different position different stages of their career but young players sometimes if they make mistakes or fail sometimes they can dumb things down a little bit too much just to try to fit in and not draw the

of their coach. And I was worried a little bit about that with Mercer because, you know, when he came in as a rookie and this devil's team had a entirely different set of expectations based on how good they were at that point. But he was just coming from junior, he was just trying all sorts of crazy stuff with the puck, right? Like he was trying to put it between defender's skates. He was trying all these spin moves, like whatever would work previously in juniors. He was trying in NHL and failing sometimes, which I think is okay for a young player. And then he got kind of pigeonholed, I think, a little bit into being a motor energy grinder type of guy, and he's clearly more skilled than that.

I think there's so much more offensive potential there. And so seeing him come out of the box against Anaheim and thread that cross-ice past the Jack Hughes for the goal, some of the stuff he's been doing with the puck skills, I think that's all there. And so seeing him actually play with confidence and demonstrate that this year, I think has been really fun to see after a tough year for him last season.

Well, yeah, you're exactly right. Like this couple seasons ago, he had 27 goals. And then unfortunately, followed up with last season of only 19 and and I think everyone was hoping that it was going to be 30 plus obviously and so uh you know he signed a new contract there was the pressure of that as well uh but you know he's a great story he came and made the team out of camp uh you know late first round pick no one really knowing what they were going to get from him but his ability right to play with pace and and to be that dog on the bone is what turned heads and it allowed him to find a role and stay in the

lineup. And so I think he is we're seeing hopefully a resurrection that will continue throughout this season because he's when he's playing the way that he is right now, he's at times you're replaceable, right? Because he can play any part of the game. He can be on your power play, can be on your penalty kill. He can be as we see when he's with Nikol Heeshire playing against top lines to defend while also producing offense. And so, you know, anytime that you're making history, I found the stat. He was doing some digging that. He was the first player in NHL history to score two power play goals in a game

and then the following game scored two shorthandah goals. And so that tells me you're playing the right way. You understand the identity that helps you that you need to be playing to have success. And yeah, you know, he's at times he's sometimes on the third line playing that center role. I think he is better on the wing. He seems to have more of an impact when he's playing with Heeshire. And that maybe allows him to be less responsible and play a little bit more offensively minded when he's got Nico in the middle there, which I think is probably what's happening as well. But make no mistake, he's playing arguably his best hockey, I would say, ever.

And I love the fact that we saw how he stood up for Nico in that situation in Anaheim. And I always say when you have those moments where you do something like that for a team and it's the camaraderie and you come out and then have a big play, it just helps the team galvanize around what you're doing individually. And so he's doing it all. And I'm happy for him. And, you know, geez, because without his play this season, this team would be potentially in trouble because he's finding a way to make an impact. All right, Bryce, this was awesome. I'm so glad we finally got to do this. I'm sure the listeners are going to love the fact that we finally connected.

What do you want to promote on the way out? What are some of the upcoming broadcasts you're doing and looking forward to? I'm curious also for which team has impressed you so far, obviously just being at ice level for these games between the benches, checking it out from that vantage point, which team's kind of blown you away so far in terms of either the speed they're playing with or the execution or just a combination of the two. Yeah. Well, I'm doing pretty much all the Devils games now that are not a not nationally. broadcasted so it's been fun

you know Colorado was impressive to watch we had them home and home it was really fun to see them but you know just when you look at the NHL this season Dimitri it's been exciting I haven't watched more hockey because you see the Montreal

and the Pittsburgh Penguins having you know starts that no would envision them to be able to do you look at Anaheim like Anaheim's I see a little resurrection there from them Utah's been excited all these teams that have these young up-and-coming stars, it seems like right now these guys are potentially hoping to maybe make an Olympic team, right?

So it just seemed like everyone's getting a nice little bump. I would say, you know, the one team that's kind of not been a surprise, you know, it's been kind of a little bit of sore spot for me as my former team, the Blues. You know, I keep track of them. I just, that's been a surprise for me that I would say on the other end is just their start. I just thought Montgomery would, you know, just kind of continue on from where he left off last season, but that hasn't been the case. And I don't know, I saw something mean on, I don't know who, where I saw, but just, you know, Shen, you know, like, everything's just crashing for them right now.

But, yeah, I would say Colorado has been by far the most consistent four-line team that I've seen live. Yeah, what they do, 5-1-5 is just endless waves of offense at a million miles an hour. it's really fun. And the two games, the devil's played, obviously, were very different, right? The first one, being much more in their favor, the second one going down five nothing before bouncing back a little bit of it, but both were just jam-packed with action and so fun to watch. I think Anaheim, certainly, I just, in preparation for today's show, I got up and re-watch that game again and so impressed with the pace they're playing at, especially when you compare it to last year, it's just night and day, and some of the young forwards there with Seneca, as we mentioned, obviously, Carlson, Go-Chay,

McTavish. I mean, they're so fun. Right now, I'm going to add Columbus to that mix as well. It's been a while since that game that he played in Columbus against the Devils, but they, I mean, Jake Allen was phenomenal in that first period. That one could have been a much different story if he hadn't played that well because Columbus just

threw everything with the kitchen sink at him offensively and they're fun as well. He couldn't finish that game. Yeah, I mean, he was like, you know what? I've put in a game's worth within two periods or whatever. I'm out. That's enough. I'm tapping out here. Yes. And I don't blame them because they really put him under the fire in that one. All right, Bryce, this is awesome, man. Looking forward to checking you

out. Yeah, I can't believe it's been 50 minutes already. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it was a good time. We're going to have to have you back on once we get a bigger sample here. Looking forward to catching you on these Devils broadcast moving forward. My quick plugs here, join the PDOCs Discord. Give us a five-star review wherever you listen. And that is all for today. We'll be back tomorrow with another episode of the PDOCAS. So come back here on the feed and check us out then. In the meantime, thank you for listening to the Hockey PDOCast streaming on the sports. Sportsnet Radio Network.